Maternity ward complaints at Watford General Hospital halve (From Watford Observer)

Maternity ward complaints at Watford General Hospital halve

10:02am Friday 12th March 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(1)

Complaints about maternity services at Watford General Hospital have halved in the past 12 months.

From 48 in the last financial year (2008/09), less than half that many have been registered this year.

And two weeks ago, Katherine ward was named “one of the best three or four maternity wards” by an inspector visiting the unit as part of the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts.

Jan Filochowski, the chief executive of West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Vicarage Road hospital, said: “We got a practically perfect mark. The inspector who has visited us before said this was one of the three or four best units in eight or nine years of inspecting.

“It would be very rare for a trust to get the mark we did for this clinical negligence scheme. Because of that, we got a reduced insurance premium. "We have had a four per cent increase in births this year from last year. It's a fantastically safe place. We're very proud. It's doing really well. It's one of our star performers.”

Mr Filochowski also said reports in a national newspaper this week regarding a midwife who had forgotten to give an injection to a patient and was then found asleep were “incorrect”.

He said: “This information was incorrect but because of patient confidentiality, the trust is unable to give the correct details.”